Massey announces plans to idle troubled Ky mine

CHARLESTON, W.Va. 
Massey Energy Co. plans to idle an eastern Kentucky mine that federal regulators want closed over claims that it is a serial violator of safety laws.

The troubled Richmond, Va.-based coal company announced the decision Wednesday. Massey said the Freedom Energy Mine, is simply too old and large to maintain after decades of mining.

"Even though Massey continues to believe the mine is safe, it has been mined for several decades and has extensive underground works that present particular challenges to maintain," the company said.

The U.S. Department of Labor portrayed the Pike County, Ky., operation as a disaster waiting to happen in a lawsuit filed Nov. 3. The unprecedented legal action is the agency's first attempt to obtain a court order closing a mine for repeated safety violations.

Separately, the Labor Department's Mine Safety and Health Administration warned Freedom on Nov. 19 to improve its safety performance or face stricter enforcement. The mine was one of 13 in seven states to receive the warning.

MSHA said the court case will continue.

"We will continue to seek a court order to ensure that miners who continue to work in any capacity at Freedom are safe," spokeswoman Amy Louviere said.

MSHA has been targeting mines with poor safety records since an explosion killed 29 miners at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia on April 5. The blast was the deadliest at a U.S. coal mine in 40 years and has triggered criminal and civil investigations.

Labor Department solicitor Patricia Smith said when the lawsuit was filed that problems at Freedom run far deeper than failing to keep up with repairs.

"We actually compared this mine to two other mines of similar composition and size," she said during a Nov. 3 teleconference. "Those mines have much better safety records that this mine ... It's not just a maintenance issue."

Freedom had amassed more than 2,000 citations and orders closing sections of the mine since July 2008. They accused Freedom of violating critical safety standards covering ventilation, roof supports, fire hazards and mandatory safety inspections.

The lawsuit, which is still pending, seeks a court order requiring Massey to halt production until the company fixes violations and comes up with a way to prevent them in the future. It also seeks to have Massey pay the mine's 170 workers while the operation is offline.

Massey said some Freedom workers will stay to remove equipment, but most will shift to other mines.

Massey employees about 7,000 people and operates dozens of underground and surface coal mines and processing plants in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia.